PAT HAYES … “Down in that lower, sort of, spectrum of malts in there, there could be some flavor frontiers where a discerning beer drinker’s going to go, wow this pale just has something special about it.”

Hayes says several breweries are deeply involved in the study, including a big name locally …

PAT HAYES … “We’ll make a malt from Copeland, which is kind of the standard right now in the two-row spring malt industry. So, there’ll be four beers total, two reps of each. That’s eight beers that Deschutes is going to make and then those beers will be distributed to sensory panels in each of the seven breweries that are members of what we call the ‘Flavor Seven Pack’ that have been supporting this research.”

He says those panels will be the final word …

PAT HAYES … “Those sensory panels will sort of be really assessing the potential flavor contributions in a research beer that is much closer to a production beer. And, then those brewers, with their experience, can say, yeah, I can pick up that flavor difference and I think that that’s enough of a difference that I want to move one of these malts into one of my beers.”

Collaborators in this important work include scientists from England, Canada, Scotland, Spain and the U.S. The surprising omission, Ireland.